Shelton State women have top seed in ACCC tournament

Saturday

Mar 2, 2013 at 12:05 AM

TUSCALOOSA | Along with an undefeated regular season, the Shelton State women’s basketball team secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Alabama Community College Conference tournament at Wallace State Community College-Hanceville.

By Marquavius BurnettSpecial to The Tuscaloosa News

TUSCALOOSA | Along with an undefeated regular season, the Shelton State women’s basketball team secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Alabama Community College Conference tournament at Wallace State Community College-Hanceville.Shelton State is ranked fourth in the country and is the only undefeated team with a 29-0 record in the NJCAA Division I women’s basketball poll.The women’s tournament begins Sunday with the championship game onWednesday. The Lady Buccaneers are the top seed from the North while Faulkner St. is the top seed in the South. With the top seed comes a first-round bye and the chance to get extra rest.Shelton State coach Madonna Thompson is no stranger to postseason play. Thompson said the emotions will be running high once the games start.“It’s going to be somebody’s last ball game,” Thompson said. “For a lot of these kids, it will be the last game they will play in period. So there’s a lot more effort and no one gives up at tournament time.”One of the Lady Buccaneers biggest strengths has been depth. The Lady Bucs go 14 deep and each player is able to come in and play just as well as the starters. Thompson said she isn’t going to change much during the postseason.“We like to keep things steady,” Thompson said. “By this time, we know most of the teams like the back of our hands so we’re not going to change a whole lot. We’re going to continue to pressure the ball and wear people down. Knowledge of the other teams is going to be key.”Center Brianna Lancaster, who leads the team with 13 points and five rebounds per game, is confident in the Bucs’ chances of winning a national championship this season.“Yes, we really think this can be our year,” Lancaster said. “If we can keep being relentless and give it our all every game, we think this could be our year.”Thompson echoed her star center’s sentiments.“We’ve got all of the components and we’re deep at every position,” Thompson said. “We have stars at every position. There’s no doubt in my mind that we can win a national championship… Somebody’s got to win it, why not us?”The Lady Buccaneers return to action Monday to face the winner of LB Wallace and Snead State. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.